Russian real wages miss forecast

Real wages in Russia rose less than expected in March and real incomes fell from the previous month, failing to provide the supported needed for significant growth in the Russian economy, data showed on Wednesday.

Russia’s economy grew 1.5 percent last year after two years of recession, but fell short of a government target of 2 percent. Russia’s economy ministry has said it expects gross domestic product growth to accelerate in 2018.

Data provided by Russia’s state statistic service, Rosstat, showing activity in economy in the first quarter was “generally quite soft,” analysts at Capital Economics said in a note.

“The outlook has, of course, been clouded by fresh US sanctions and the sell-off in Russian financial markets earlier this month,” they wrote.

The United States imposed new sanctions against Russia on April 6, targeting major Russian companies and some of the country’s most prominent businessmen in response to alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 US election and other “malign activity”.

In March, before the sanctions were imposed, real wages rose 6.5 percent year-on-year and real incomes rose 4.1 percent, compared with a 4.3 percent increase in the previous month. Economists polled by Reuters had expected that real wages would grow by 8.8 percent in March.(RTRS)